Fundamental Rights (Politics Essay Sample)

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Fundamental rights that are entitled to any a man can be defined as those things that are entitled to any man within a given legal system. There are remedies which have been provided to ensure that those fundamental rights provided in the legal system of a particular state are honored and respected, and if there is a failure to respect them, one will face a legal penalty. For example, fundamental rights in the United States are one of the greatest features of the constitution of this country. Though a person or an individual are entitled by the constitution of the state that she or he lives in there are limitations to these rights. The main objective behind the provision of limitations is to ensure that individuals do not misuse their rights at the expense of others rights. This provides grounds for respecting individual’s rights all the time without denying other rights. Universally there are rights which are recognized by all states as the basic to the survival of any given individual. These fundamental rights are contained in the United Nations covenant of political and civil rights (O'Flaharty, 14). There are also covenants drawn by various member states of the United Nations; these covenants include cultural, social and economic rights (Tayal, 34). The rights contained in the United Nation's agreement are as follows, right to be equally protected under the laws of your state of residence, freedom of press and speech, privacy right, property right, right to express you democratic views through participating in general elections by voting, freedom to move from one point to another within your country, freedom to be gathered together (association) and right to get a partner (marriage). According to my views, the most of the fundamental rights that are basic to survival of any human being are as follows and I have also given a reason to support each of them. The reason behind giving a support case (reason) is to show why I believe that they are fundamental for the survival of any given human being. Right to life is one of the most basic fundamental rights in my view that any man should be entitled to, if he has to survive in this cruel world. The life of a person should be secured in the constitution of any state because it is the way to prevent threat from other men as they struggle to survive in the world where there are scarce resources (Aski, 43). High penalty should be stipulated in the constitution to ensure that anyone who denies another a right for life pays for his or her actions. Another fundamental right that is basic, in my view, to any man is the right to participate in general elections and casting his vote. This tight helps man to make a decision concerning how he wants to be ruled, the type of government that he wants in his country and finally the governance systems. This right should be universally given to all men around the globe as it determines the effectiveness and efficiency of all other rights that man is entitled to by the constitution. In addition to the rights mentioned above, the right to be equally protected by the law which one is under is very vital for the growth and development of any given society. For any person to realize his or her full potentials socially, economically and politically, this right is opted to be provided to all persons. It helps to bring harmony and peace to any given state. This is the case because every member of the society is confident in the justice system, as well as in the laws governing his or her country. Adherences to this right by those in the government help to solve the problems of uprisings which can lead to lawlessness or civil wars resulting in untold sufferings to the members of the state in question.Moral Theory (Utilitarianism by J.S Mill) I have based my case of fundamental rights which one is entitled to through the theory of J.S Mill on 'Utilitarianism'. This theory can be categorized as an ethical theory which is of the view that holding the proper course of action results in maximization of the overall happiness of any given individual. This happiness should be achieved by whatever means are available. The theory states that the moral worth of any action can only be determined by the outcomes of the action in question. In addition, the morality of an action can be weighed after all the consequences known. Utilitarianism is a reductionist as well as the quantitative form of approach to ethics. There are two types of utilitarianism, namely, act and rule utilitarianism. Act utilitarianism is that if one is faced with a situation to make a choice, one firstly has to consider all the possible consequences that may appear that action, which is based on the consequences one makes and the decision on which course of action to take depends on the pleasure that he or she is going to obtain from the action. On the other hand, the utilitarianism rule takes another dimension where one first looks at all the potential rules behind all forms of actions. In order to determine which rule to follow, one has to consider what would be the result if the rule is followed. If following a certain rule results in happiness, this rule will be always followed, as it is morally acceptable. The utilitarianism theory provided the basis on which fundamental rights of individuals can be formulated and protected. It shows that rights can be based on the rules and one’s action. From this rules and acts one determines, the consequences will follow after taking a certain direction. This provides the basis of formulating remedies to ensure that rights of individuals are protected at all cost. People will be aware of penalties that will face them if they fail to honor the rights of other individuals. The problem behind the usage of this theory in formulation of fundamental rights is that, there is high probability of the rule utilitarianism collapsing into act utilitarianism; this makes the rules in question to be more sophisticated for them to be understood by those who they opt for protecting.

Conflicts of Fundamental Rights There is a number of conflicts on the various fundamental rights that an individual is entitled to enjoy. The conflicts can either be valuable or moral. The conflict results from different world views. One group may have completely different assumptions on what can be said to differ completely from the views held by the others. The conflicts arises due to the different parties using different standards to measure what can be regarded as good and right. This results in fundamentally differing answers on various question on what is morally right. In addition, groups might be having different ideas concerning what good life entails, by stressing the significance of different things. This translates into differing goals regarding what can be universally contained in the covenants of fundamental rights (Sinha, 54). The unwillingness of various groups of to except the views of others results in the moral and value conflicts.Different Theories There is a number of theories regarding fundamental rights and they have come up with various venues of solving conflicts which arise from fundamental rights of individuals. Natural right theory provides us with the view that rights may not be contingent upon various laws, beliefs and customs from any given government, as well as culture, therefore they are universal and cannot be withdrawn at any cost (Basu, 23). The theories on utilitarianism and natural rights provide the scientific methods of deciding what course of action one can take and what is universally regarded as good and right. The solution of various conflicts is to provide avenues of coming together and formulating procedures that are acceptable to all in formulation and protection of human rights.